An existing service provider, which may be a video information provider, a data service provider, or a video and data provider, has a central office from which information is communicated to a network interface. For example, a coaxial cable may run from the office through a neighborhood, and have numerous physical drops that run into customer houses. The network interface, at the end of a physical drop, connects to a set top box that is used by the end user to select desired items for reception as video or data items.
In these existing systems, the provider's entire bandwidth of information is sent from the office, and is present at each physical drop. As such, the set top box or selection device has access to all of the bandwidth, and if desired may be programmed to allow or forbid access to certain portions of the entire bandwidth of information.
Although these existing systems have been employed in many video and/or data communication systems that have been commercially successful, there are inherent disadvantages in these types of systems. For example, because these systems send the entire bandwidth of information to each network interface, the provider may have to limit the amount of video and/or data available due to physical limitations of the physical drops. Further, because the entire bandwidth of information from the provider is available at the network interface, it may become difficult for the provider to prevent an end user from accessing information items such as, for example, pay-view channels, without paying. Still further, in addition to the disadvantages mentioned above, another disadvantage associated with these existing systems is that when an end user is unable to receive information over the network, it may be very difficult to isolate the source of the problem. That is, the problem may be at the central office, or anywhere along the communication path from the office to the network interface.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for an improved video and data communication system that overcomes the problems and limitations of the prior art.